Vilnius - Algiers: a Study in Minor Literature
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ALGIERS - VILNIUS - ALGIERS: A STUDY IN MINOR LITERATURE Julija hkys A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto O Copyright by Julija hkys 2001 Natb~lLibraiy Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada uisitions and Acquisitions et "9Bib iographic Services senrices bibliographiques 3% Welingm Street 395. rue WeUington OaawaON KlAON4 OaamON KlAiW4 callaea Cenada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence aiiowing the exclusive permettant à la National Li1,rary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Cmda de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownershp of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thése. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thése ni des extraits subs'mtiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent êire imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract Algiers - Vilnius - Algiers: A Shidy in Minor Literature 'JY Julija Sukys Doctor of Philosophy 2001 Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto The works of Ngerian author Assia Djebar and Litvak writçr Icchokas Meras lie at the centre of this study. In it 1 consider the texts of Djebar and Meras as rexts (if minor literature, using Gilles Dcleuzc and Félix Guattari's KaFka: Toward a Minor Literaturc: as my starting point. Both Djebar and Meras write in the languagc: of the other, and 1 argue that it is their simultaneous being inside and outside of language (and comrnunity) that defines thern as writers of minor literature. These writers deform and disrupt language, rnaking it stutter and infusing it with new meaning. While stuttering language is one result of the ever-present tension between deterritorialization and reterritorialization that is a t the heart of minor titerature, i have tried to show that this process happens not only in language (as in Djebar), but in the narratives that communities tell about themselvcs (as in Meras) as well. The collectivity of minor literature - the fact that minor Iiterature is always writien by rnany hands - has led me to a reading of its texts as rhizomes and as assemblages. This rhizomorphous reading is a reading across texts and genres. It is a reading process that dows .- 11 for multiform texts, as rhizomes are always multiple and continually becorning. In addition to the adoption of language, another common thread ties the texts of this study together: the memory of war, violence, and loss. It is the simultaneous struggle to honour the memory of disappeared loved ones, and to free oneself from the past in ordec to let old wounds heal that links not only Djebar and Meras, but which opens their texts out to a much larger assemblage, or collection of rhizomes. It is this contradictory impulse - to hang on while letting go (to reterritorialize while deterritorializing) - that is at the cenm of minor litcraiurc. The texts of minor Literature are written by many hands, and this one is no exception. Countless people have left their mark on these pages along the way - sometimes knowingly and sometimes not - 1 will mention but a téw of them. First and foremost 1 must thank Linda Hutcheon, who had the generosity of spirit and the imagination to take on what must have seemed a very odd project. A great deal of what 1 carry away hmthis text has been learned from her. It has been an honour and a pleasure to be her student. 1 thank Ted Chamberlin for his well-timed kind words and insight over the years, as well as Roland Le Huenen who has been invaluable to me 50th intellectually and in his role as the director of the Centre for Comparative Literature, which under his leadership has become an increasingly supportive space for students. 1 thank Violeta Kelertas for her generosity in taking on the role of the Lithuanian eyes and ears on my cornmittee long-distance trom Chicago. This project took me into archives, and 1 was futtunate enough to spend a rnonih in Vilnius to do research. The funding that 1 received from the AukStaitê Grant (Centre for Iiussian and East European Studies), the Witness-as-Study Project (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), and the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto made that trip possible. On site in Vilnius, Giedrius Viliünas of the Department of Lithuanian Philology at Vilnius University helped me track dom Meras's papers at Lithuania's Literature and Art Archive, where the fiiendly archivist greeted me like a long-lost niece iv everyday. 1 thank both Giedrius and the archivist whose name I no longer remember for making me feel welcome. My Ontario Graduate Scholarship made it possible to finish my work upon my return Toronto, where 1 have found many teachers among my friends and family. 1 thank my dear friend Mark Clamen who has always been generous with his knowledge of the Vilna ghetto among other ihings, George Gasyna for sharing with me his linguistic expertise, Rebecca Comay who has fed my thinking on archives and memory, and my grandmother Veronika Kubilius to whom f turned when al1 dictionaries had failed me. Finally, 1 thank my colleague, friend and partncr Sean Gurd who acccimpanied me îïrst to Vilnius and then throughout the writing process. His fresh eyes and sharp wit have allowed me to see things 1 wouldn't have seen othenvise. Entirc scctions of this text (the best parts of itt 1 think) owe their existence to conversaiions Sean and 1 had over meals, and to off-hand remarks he shouted up the stairs €rom his desk in the basement. 1 dedicate this work to my father, Algirdas Sukys, who loved books and language. A Note on Sources and Translations 1 have used published translations of my primary texts wherever possible. !f a published translation is cited, a source reierence will follow both the original citatim and its translation. If a single nkrence iollows both the original and translation (as per MLA guidelines), ihe translation is mine, and the page number refers to the original source. The Appendix includes a selection of Simaitk's hand-writtcn letters whicfi 1 have transcribcd and translated. In some places where words are illegiblc 1 have simply signalled this with the phrase '[illegible word].' In other places 1 have hazarded a guess as to what the word çould be, and have signalled this by putting the word in square brackcts, followed by a question mark: '[example?].' 1 have tried CO reproduce the original texts as accurately as possible, and sometimes - in the case of Awia Djebar's sometimes idiosyncratic punctuation, and in the case of archival sources - this has rneant reproducing passages that contravene standard typographical practices (especially in the case of ellipses, where three periods are used by Djebar, Ona Simaite and Salorneja Néris, rather than the standard Cour). It seems to me that in a text very much concerned with errors and misspellings, sornc renegade punctuation is somehow appropriate. Table of Contents ... List of Appendices............................................................................................................. vw-ix . Introduction: Vilnius .Algiers .Vilnius .................................................................................. 1 1 . Violence of Language / Language of Violence ......................................*...............................9 II. Detemtocialization: The Rhizome and the Archive .......*....................................................66 ... III . Moonweek . Mouvance. and Multiplicity .......................................................................118 IV . Strasbourg: Erotic Nights at the Junction .............................. .. ....158 Conclusion: Nnius - Vilgiers - Alnius................................................................................ 195 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 197 Works Consulted.................................................................................................................... 260 List of Appendices 1. From Yitzhak Arad's Ghetto in Flames. 2. From Herman Kruk's The End of Jerusalem of Lithuania (Chronicles 1939-441. 3. From Yitschok Rudashevski's Diarv of the Vilna Ghetto. 4. From Macha Rolnikas's Je devais Ie raconter. 5. From Shoshana Kalish's introduction to ihe song "Tsvev Taybelekh" 'Two Doves' in Yes. We Sang. 6. Ona Simaite's letter tri Kazys Jakubénas, 21 October 1941. 7. Simaite's lctter to Jakubénas, 7 March 1942. 8. Simaite's Ictter to Jakubenas, 12 April 1942. 9. Simaite's letter to Jakubénas, 26 May 1942. 10. Simaite's letter to Jakubenas, 8 November 1942. 11. Simaite's letter to Jakubenas, 7 March 1943. 12. Simaité's Ietter to Jakubenas, 28 March 1943. 13. Simaite's letter to Jakubenas, 10 September 1943. 14. Simaite's lctter to Marijona Cilvinaite, 2 October 1957. 15. Simaite's ktter to Cilvinaité, 17 December 1957. 16. Detail from Simaite's letter to tilvinaité, 17 Deçember 1957. 17. Simaite's letter to Cilvinaite, 18 May 1958. 18a. IS J. Baranausko parodymq (From I. Baranauskas's testimony). 18b. IS J. Baranausko parodymq (From J. Baranauskas's testimony). **. VI11 19.14 J.